Outdoor worship: Garden prayer stations

Interested in outdoor worship? Check out our Worship in the Woods book of 10 outdoor gatherings.

We're enjoying a rare spell of sun and warmth in the UK at the moment, and church indoors (especially if it's upstairs, in what feels like a large sauna, like ours) seems wrong. The outdoors lends itself to worship, with God's creation all around. The Bible is also full nature references and metaphors. The seven prayer stations in this set are based on things you may find in a garden; trees, flowers, water, hills, thorns, fruit and earth. You could choose to use only the stations that you have the location and props for, or you can add extra things to your garden to make all the stations possible.

Download the pdf (to the right) with instructions of how to set each station up and another pdf with the posters to help the worshippers, and let me know how you get on!

We've produced a whole book of Outdoor Worship ideas, ideal for mixed-age groups - take a look here.

Comments

Please sign in to add your comments - ask questions, disagree, add your own perspective...

Show Comments

Thank you! These look amazing! Can't wait to try them with our congregation.

Diane - 9:24am - 25 Jul 2013

These are wonderful ideas! I will use them once our 24inches of snow disappears and we are into warm weather. Our little church has dwindled to about 20, and many are new in their faith. this type of thing renews the old, tired Christians and helps teach the new ones in a creative way! Since we are so small, this type of resource is a GIGANTIC blessing to us! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Deanna - 9:21am - 15 Mar 2014

I used this yesterday, not in the garden but on a group prayer walk in Burnham Beeches. Just managed to find some flowers, and had to use last year's seed cases for the fruit but the material worked well. Obviously I didn't use all the creative ideas, didn't want to leave stuff floating in the pond!

Mark - 2:52am - 10 Jun 2016

Your Basket

Empty

View Basket Clear Basket

Tags

Themes: Creation, Water, Outdoor

Type: Prayer Station

Function: Prayer

Bible Refs: Matt 4, Psalm 42, John 4:14, 22:17, Matt 6, Matt 7, Matt 13, Matt 14

Lectionary Week(s):
Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany (Year A)
Third Sunday in Lent (Year A)
Proper 3, Ordinary/Lectionary 8 (Year A)
Proper 4, Ordinary/Lectionary 9 (Year A)
Proper 7, Ordinary/Lectionary 12 (Year C)
Proper 10, Ordinary/Lectionary 15 (Year A)
Proper 10, Ordinary/Lectionary 15 (Year A)
Proper 11, Ordinary/Lectionary 16 (Year A)
Proper 11, Ordinary/Lectionary 16 (Year A)
Proper 12, Ordinary/Lectionary 17 (Year A)
Proper 12, Ordinary/Lectionary 17 (Year A)
Proper 13, Ordinary/Lectionary 18 (Year A)
Proper 14, Ordinary/Lectionary 19 (Year A)

You Will Need

The prayer stations posters and the props needed for each station

Resources

Garden prayer stations

Garden prayer stations posters

Thinking of using our resources online?

We're happy for you to do that - read this article for more information.

Find out more

About the Author

Sara Hargreaves

Sara co-leads Engage Worship, drawing from her experience in music, worship and youthwork. She is author of a number of books including Whole Life Worship (IVP 2017) and The Rest Is Worship (MWF 2023). Sara is also a mum of two wonderful children and they all live in groovy Luton.

Have you looked at:

Thanks for downloading this free resource.

If you want to show your appreciation for Engage's resources, please consider making a one-off or regular donation. We're a charity reliant on our supporters. Thank you!

Make a donation
No thanks, I don't wish to donate at this time.